Education Noticeboard

Education Noticeboard - 7 July 2022

Welcome to the Education Noticeboard. A round-up of news, guidance and key updates for education settings.

Included in this update:

Director update

Dear colleagues

Despite this being a slightly shorter education Noticeboard than recent weeks, it is filled with uplifting news stories, which we are delighted to share with you!

A number of schools ran fantastic events, as part of South Asian Heritage Month. Amongst these was an invigorating Kabaddi workshop at Charlton School, facilitated by Moinul Islam, MBE. Telford Priory also held a colourful and informative diversity event, which proved very popular.

Telford & Wrekin Council have launched a few new initiates, one to help the young people in our borough to de-stress following exams, by giving them free access to exercise facilities; and another for schools to apply for a grant to fund sustainability projects. We are also launching a Summer Reading Challenge, which is an ideal way to mark one of the 10 by 10 activities off the list – by visiting a library.

You will also find some updates from the DfE, attendance support and CPD opportunities – among others!

Wishing you all a great week and weekend!

Simon

Simon Wellman
Director: Education & Skills

Moinul Islam MBE runs kabaddi sessions for Charlton pupils

Moinul Islam MBE led a Kabaddi training session for both primary and secondary school teachers. This was followed by two sessions for the students, as part of South Asian Heritage Month.

Kabaddi is a team sport that requires seven players in two teams. The aim of the sport is for a single player on offense to run into the opposing team's court up to an extent and then tag out as many defenders of the opponent team as possible and return to the respective court anyhow without getting touched.

The students learned the basic rules of the sport and then they really enjoyed competing as a team to try and outwit each other. Kabaddi is very active, fast, tactical and enjoyable game where effective communication is a crucial part of the sport.

Moinsul was an inspirational teacher, and the school would like to thank both him and the Telford & Wrekin Council for organising this opportunity for the Charlton staff and students. They are looking forward to implementing the sport of Kabaddi into lessons and the extra-curricular programme next year.

Telford Priory School diversity event

Telford Priory School held a diversity festival over the weekend. It was a fun filled event, and lovely to see so many individuals from the local community! Visitors included Cllr Shirley Reynolds and Cllr Raj Mehta, Major of Telford & Wrekin.

For information about the event, and to view photographs taken at it, please visit the school twitter account.

Schools invited to apply for up to £10,000 for sustainability projects

Telford & Wrekin Council are urging local schools to apply for its popular Climate Change Fund, which has just re-opened after proving hugely successful last year.

Grants of up to £10,000 are available to the borough’s schools, community centres, faith groups, small businesses and more. This is to enable these organisations to realise sustainability projects, which might include anything from installing bike shelters to creating community compost projects, and from installing solar panels to upgrading heating systems with renewable alternatives.

Find out more and apply on the Sustainable Telford Climate Change Fund website.

New initiative to help beat exam stress for young people

A new initiative to help beat exam stress for young people who have sat their GCSE and A-Level exams has been launched by Telford & Wrekin Council. The offer is to all year 11 and year 13 pupils who live in Telford & Wrekin by providing free use of any of the Telford & Wrekin Council Aspirations health and fitness facilities during the month of July and for £10 in August. This offer includes use of the seven gyms, access to two health suites and over 120 exercise classes per week and is in addition to the free public swimming available to all residents aged under 25 years.

Leader of the Council, Shaun Davies (Labour) said: “We recognise just how demanding and stressful exams can be and the huge amount of work and sacrifice that has been made by the young people to prepare for and sit their exams. In recognition of this, we would like to give something back, the opportunity to relax, unwind and get rid of some of that post-exam stress and take their mind off results day. Taking exams can be a very stressful and difficult time for many people and this initiative is here to help students stay calm and keep mind and body healthy and focussed.”

Councillor Kelly Middleton (Labour), Cabinet Member for Leisure, Public Health and Well-Being, Equalities and Partnerships said: “We hope as many eligible young people take up this offer as the opportunity presents a cost-effective way to join a fitness class, access a gym or go for a swim as part of a wellbeing lifestyle. We want our young people to have access to these facilities as a stress buster after their exams.”

Exercising is a fantastic way to help reduce stress and anxiety, as well as helping to relax and improve mood and enjoy the summer as young people await the result of their exams.

The investment comes as a part of the council’s wider £4.6 million commitment for leisure services which was announced last year to help make the borough cleaner, greener, safer and more enjoyable.

Students can activate this offer by visiting one of the leisure centres along with proof of age and address or by going to the Telford & Wrekin Leisure website.

The seven sites include Abraham Darby Sports and Leisure Centre, Newport Swimming and Fitness Centre, Oakengates Leisure Centre, Horsehay Golf and Fitness Centre, Phoenix Leisure Centre,

Stirchley Recreation Centre and Wellington Civic and Leisure Centre.

Bumper programme of activities planned for families this summer

Telford & Wrekin Council Leisure have just launched their biggest ever school holiday activity brochure to help keep families busy and active during the upcoming six weeks break.

The bumper programme includes family favourite kids-4-£1 activities like tobogganing, tennis and swimming – plus some brand new additions like £1 bike hire, soft play and archery.

Activities are scheduled to take place every day, between Monday 25 July and Monday 5 September 2022.

Telford Ice Rink are also offering 2-4-1 on ice skating tickets during the school holidays and, for those who find themselves venturing to Telford Town Park, Sky Reach is offering a combo deal for the climbing wall and quick flight wall.

Find out more and start planning on the Telford & Wrekin Leisure website.

Registrations are live for Happy Healthy and Active Holidays – Summer 2022

The Happy Healthy and Active Holiday’s (HHAH) scheme will be running through the Summer holidays (Saturday 23 July – Sunday 4 September 2022). Holiday activities will be available for children and young people who are receiving income-based free school meals.

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There will be a range of activities on offer at the Holiday clubs for children from reception to Year 11. Every day a child attends they will be provided with a nutritious meal and at least 4 hours of enrichment activities, including 60 minutes of physical activity, arts, crafts and nature walks! In order to access the scheme parents and carers of children who are eligible must register on the HHAH website. Video tutorials on how to register, manage and cancel bookings are all available on the website.

Parents and carers who are eligible for income-related FSM will have been directly notified of the scheme and how to register by letter. If you are able to further promote the HHAH scheme to eligible families then that would be greatly appreciated. We know some families will need your support to register for the scheme therefore we have also created a paper version of the registration form. This will also help any families that are finding it difficult to apply online. Please can we ask that schools support these families in completing the form and returning it to us so that we can get the holiday club to contact them. Thanks for your help with this!

Happy Healthy and Active Holiday's Registration Form

Those who have signed up to the HHAH Scheme will be notified by email when the activity sessions are live to book on to.

Like last year, there is some flexibility for other children, not eligible for FSM to access the scheme. This may include children and families living in areas of deprivation, those known to children services and those that have SEND as examples. If you feel a child would benefit from the HHAH programme, please contact the HolidayActivityHub@telford.gov.uk inbox so we can provide more information and a special code for the family to register on the website.

What’s Happening in Telford & Wrekin

The 'What’s near me – Summer 2022' information is available to download.

We have a range of fun free activities available during the school holidays for Telford & Wrekin families with children from reception to year 11 who are receiving income-related free school meals to take part in. They will be able to receive a healthy meal and join in on sports, arts, crafts and much more! Check out the HHAH Website for full details of what’s running over Summer.

Summer reading challenge

The Summer Reading challenge starts from the 9 July 2022 and is a great way to keep your child reading and to introduce them to a library.

The 10 by 10 initiative is about helping children take part in 10 life enhancing activities by the time they are ten. One of the goals is to use a library, so join the Gadgeteers as they get ready for their summer party by reading six library books this summer.

Along the way, you can collect stickers and once you have read your six books, you will receive a medal and certificate.

Children can read any books in any format, fiction, non-fiction, picture books, audio books, eBooks and eAudio books via the Libby App. Just head into one of our main libraries and your child will receive a Gadgeteer pack along with their first book.

For under 5’s, Bookstart is a national programme that encourages all parents and carers to enjoy books with their children, from as early an age as possible.

The Bookstart packs can be obtained from your local library and contain age appropriate books suitable from 0-5 years. Just head to your local library and start inspiring that love of reading that will give children a flying start in life.

Find out more about Bookstart Packs

Telford & Wrekin Council are collecting and developing more opportunities all the time. Further information about the scheme can be found on the 10 by 10 website

CSE Report Publication – 12 July 2022

Dear all,

As you know an independent Inquiry was commissioned by the Council into Child Sexual Exploitation. I wanted to let you all know that we have now received notification from the Independent Inquiry that its report will be published at 5pm Tuesday 12 July 2022. As we have not yet seen a copy of the report, I cannot tell you what the report says, but we do recognise that following the publication there will be some challenges, with increased press interest in the borough and the work of our services as well as some recommendations that we will need to respond to. I want to thank you all for your continued hard work in supporting our children and their families. We will keep you updated over the weeks that follow.

Jo Britton
Executive Director Children Services

Authorised absence from school due to religious observance for Eid-ul-Adha

Eid ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) is one of the most important festivals in the Islamic calendar. This is also called ‘Eid al-Kabir’, ‘Greater Eid’ or ‘Big Eid’.

The day of Eid ul-Adha falls on the tenth day in the twelfth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar. In Telford, Eid ul-Adha will begin on Saturday 9 July 2022. The festival usually lasts for three days.

Eid-ul-Adha : Saturday, 9 July 2022 and Sunday, 10 July 2022 (Telford Mosques).

Please note that parents may request absence from school on Monday 11 July 2022 as this festival lasts for three days.

Any queries can be sent, via email, to attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk.

A new Department for Education data collection initiative to support the ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ guidance

To support the new ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ guidance the Department for Education (DfE) is currently trialling the daily collection of attendance data, from all schools nationally.

There are plans to this becoming compulsory from September 2023 at the latest but schools are encouraged to register and participate in this now.

Around half of local schools have already ‘signed up’ to this.

You may have been invited to register for this trial previously – those that have not done so are strongly encouraged to do this now. This should not add to your work load.

The System is run by WONDE and will extract data from a variety of school MIS, which includes: Arbor, Bromcom, Cloud School, Engage, Facility, Integris, iSAMS, PupilAsset, ScholarPack, SIMS, SIMS Primary, SchoolBase, SchoolPod, Teacher Centre, WBCS, Wonde Generic – other MIS may be included.

Attendance data reports will be available for you to view your own school as well as compare it with local and national data via a dashboard on the view your education data service. You’ll need a DfE sign-in account to access the service.

To sign up for the service visit the share your daily school attendance data page on the GOV.UK website.

Once all schools are registered and submitting data there will be no need to send your termly attendance and present/absent data to the attendance support team, as they will also be able to access local data via the new system. Thank you all for your continuing support.

Any queries can be sent, via email, to attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk.

School Governance Update – July 2022

The latest news and information from the Department for Education, for school governors, is now available online.

Updates included:

Schools white paper – Opportunity for all.
Local authority-established multi-academy trusts.
SEND review: Right support, right place, right time.
Education recovery support guidance.
Keeping children safe in education guidance.
Webinars for schools on attendance best practice.
Flexible working training for school leaders.
External reviews of governance guidance
View my financial insights (VMFI) governor training webinars
Early years foundation stage profile assessment
Improving your computer science teaching: computing hubs
Recruitment of National Leaders of Governance (NLGs)

Provision for children under 5 in England

This is an update from the Department for Education

Data on the provision of early education/childcare for children under 5 years of age, including:

the number and percentage of children registered to receive 15-hour and 30-hour early education and childcare entitlements
providers of government-funded early education and childcare entitlements

Education provision: children under 5 years of age

Ministry of Defence Education Support Fund (ESF) 2023

This is an update from the Department for Education

In January 2022, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) published its 10-year strategy for improving support to armed forces families. As part of the MOD’s efforts to support the implementation of this strategy, existing grant funding schemes designed to support service children are being reviewed.

The ESF in its current form will be open for applications until 30 September 2022.For more details, please read the ESF application pack on the GOV.UK website.

The Pre-exclusion Hotline

The pre-exclusion hotline has been working well and many schools have been utilising the support that comes alongside the hotline.

Many schools are now using the hotline at the correct time – which is before considering an exclusion, rather than after a decision to exclude has already been made. This is in order to access some immediate support to prevent the exclusion from taking place.

For most users, a member of the BSAT team has been able to offer immediate intervention by discussing the exclusion in more detail and offering a preventative solution. This support is available for both the individual child and their school.

During our recent review of the service, it has become evident that some schools are calling multiple times with regards to the same child. This is usually because the child has been identified as in need of further support – so from September 2022 there will be a limit of 1 free visit per child, per term. After this, the hotline will be able to offer telephone support, however visits to school will be traded through BSAT.

I am really pleased that many schools have commented on the use of the hotline and how valuable it is to support Head teachers in their decision making process.

The Pre-exclusion Hotline number is 07816 372459.

CPD courses for school staff, senior leaders and governors to the end of the Summer Term 2022

The CPD Booklet continues to be available on the Telford Education Services site.

Course bookings with a course code are made by sending a completed CPD booking form via email to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk.

Other courses and briefings without a course code are usually booked by sending your email address name and school name to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk (unless stated otherwise).

The CPD Booklet for 2022-23 will be uploaded onto the site before the end of term.

Supporting Behaviour and Learning - Children with ADHD/ODD & CD (new course –see separate article)	Monday, July 11, 2022	4pm to 5.30pm
The Role of the Early Years Practitioner in Supporting and Enhancing Play (EY 008)	Wednesday, July 13, 2022	1.15pm to 4pm
ECT Induction Tutor - initial training (CPD 520)	Wednesday, July 13, 2022	4pm to 5.30pm
Newly Appointed Designated Safeguarding Leads' Training (2 days) - part 1 (SG 102) Face to Face	Wednesday, July 13, 2022	9.15am to 4pm
Newly Appointed Designated Safeguarding Leads' Training (2 days) - part 2 (SG 102) Face to Face	Thursday, July 14, 2022	9.15am to 4pm
Verbal Intervention Training (BSAT 213)	Thursday, July 14, 2022	9am to 11.30am
Verbal Intervention Training (BSAT 214)	Thursday, July 14, 2022	3pm to 5.30pm
Designated Safeguarding Leads Refresher (SG 107) Face to Face	Wednesday, July 20, 2022	9.15am to 3.15pm

Supporting Behaviour and Learning - Children with ADHD / Oppositional Defiance Disorder & Conduct Disorder – new training course

PSS 104: Supporting Behaviour and Learning - Children with ADHD / Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) & Conduct Disorder (CD) is a new twilight online CPD course. It is aimed at those staff members in schools, both primary and secondary, who work directly with children and young people - including teachers, learning mentors, teaching assistants, school support staff and other childcare professionals.

The course aims to raise awareness and understanding of ADHD, ODD and CD and, most importantly, help staff to support children to improve their outcomes – with a focus on supporting behaviour and learning.

As well as ADHD, the course will examine Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). Delegates will understand the challenges facing neuro-diverse children and the strategies they can use to avoid isolation and exclusion.

Course dates and times:

Monday 11 July 2022, 4pm to 5.30pm

Delegate fees

£85 for one delegate.
£76.50 per person for two delegates from the same school on the same date.
Whole school cost: As these courses are taking place on a Monday evening, when many schools hold staff meetings, we can offer access to this online course at a whole school price of £250 per school. (Please note: for ‘whole school’ bookings please select one date).

To book please send a completed CPD booking form to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk – if your request is for ‘whole school’ access, please simply state this on your form, rather than listing all the staff at this stage, and we will get back to you to confirm the details.

Important news regarding the Government’s proposed changes to the Early Career Teacher Appropriate Body arrangements from August 2023

Transition of Appropriate Body services to Teaching School Hubs

As part of a package of Appropriate Body (AB) reforms, the Government is proposing the transition of AB service from local authorities to teaching school hubs. Under these proposals, from 31 August 2023:

local authorities would cease to operate as ABs
any ECTs part way through their induction who are registered with an LA AB will need to transfer to a TSH AB

Telford & Wrekin LA will be working closely with the STEP TSH, based at The Priory School, Shrewsbury, to ensure this transition runs as smoothly as possible. We recommend that when schools either choose, or have to transfer their ECTs, that they chose the STEP TSH.

How will this affect ECTs already registered with T&W?

ECTs who started their induction with T&W as an AB in September 2021 should be able to complete their induction with T&W AB.
ECTs who start their induction after September 2022 will need to transfer to a TSH AB by or before August 2023.
Schools may request to transfer their ECTs from the T&W AB at any point. If, less than one whole year or equivalent, T&W AB will, on request, advise the school on the amount due for the proportion of the AB package used.

How does this affect ECTs starting on or after September 2022?

T&W AB will offer a 1 year AB package to ECTs starting in September 2022. These ECTs will need to register with a TSH AB for the 2nd year from 31 August 2023.
An AB support package will not be available for ECTs starting after September 2022 (i.e. mid-year) - these ECTs should be registered with a TSH AB.

Schools therefore have two choices in September 2022 for ECTs starting their induction?

Register ECTs with T&W for the first year, then at the end of the year transfer to a TSH AB.
Register ECTs with a TSH from the start; they may then, if the school chooses, remain with this AB for the whole of their induction.

Please send any queries via email to schoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk and either Joanne, our ECT AB Administrator, or Ant, our ECT AB Manager, will get in touch with you.

World Youth Skills Day

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. Since then, World Youth Skills Day has provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policy-makers and development partners.

This year, the theme of the World Youth Skills Day is 'Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic'.

World Youth Skills Day 2022 takes place amid concerted efforts towards socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that are interconnected with challenges such as climate change, conflict, persisting poverty, rising inequality, rapid technological change, demographic transition and others.

Young women and girls, young persons with disabilities, youth from poorer households, rural communities, indigenous peoples, and minority groups, as well as those who suffer the consequences of violent conflict and political instability, continue to be excluded due to a combination of factors. In addition, the crisis has accelerated several transitions the world of work was already undergoing, which add layers of uncertainty regarding the skills and competencies that will be in demand after the pandemic is overcome.

The United Nations and its agencies, such as UNESCO-UNEVOC, are well placed to help address these challenges by reducing access barriers to the world of work, ensuring that skills gained are recognized and certified, and offering skills development opportunities for out-of-school youth and those not in employment, education or training (NEET). During this Decade of Action for the 2030 Agenda, the full engagement of young people in global processes is vital to generate positive change and innovation.

Resources:

3 ways for young people to celebrate World Youth Skills Day

Unesco

Global Dimension

This entry was posted by Claire on Wednesday, 06 July 2022.

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Every week during term time we publish a new update for the education community. It includes essential briefings and specialist information about education.

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